Best Practices in Accessibility Testing

Table of Contents

1. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) best practices

In order to enhance the productivity of an application, testers strive hard and always learn the latest concepts. In various testing methods, accessibility testing has huge significance because it deals with the usability of an application.

Previously, when testers obtain the task of accessibility testing, they get worried. But now, with the evolution of technology, accessibility testing is their preferred choice.

Also, being an experienced accessibility testing company we will share some best accessibility testing tools. Further, with a team of experts, we are actively offering premium Web accessibility testing services in India & USA.

W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) has made WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Here we will also learn about WCAG best practices that further improve your skill and quality of the applications.

Additionally, the guidelines should be on priority in your website accessibility testing checklist. Further, being a quality tester, one should always be focused on the usability of an application because the application has no value if it is not in use.

As per the analysis, approximately 67% of the applications are discarded because users don’t find them convenient. It happens because of poor accessibility testing, and you should not make this happen with your product.

Hence always track the performance, appeal, and usability of your application by implementing the best web and mobile app accessibility testing tools.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) best practices

If you are strengthening your accessibility testing skill, you must have knowledge about WCAG best practices. The concept illustrates how to make your web application accessible to audiences having disabilities.

As we know, the businessmen made an application for the public. And if it justifies its role by offering accessibility to the diverse range of audiences having issues of sight, cognitive disability, hearing, and motion then you can consider your application successful.

The ultimate aim of  web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) is to offer equal access to people either with or without disabilities. Elements that need your attention for accessibility testing are:

• Perceivable
• Operability
• Robust
• Understandable

Also Read: Complete Step By Step Guide for Web Application Testing

Do you know 508 Compliance Testing?

Federal agencies, private organizations, and institutions that receive federal funds through Assistive Technology Act, are bound to follow this law set standard.

508 Compliance Testing aims to develop applications (any form of electronics, software mobile) that must be accessible to all individuals including the disabled.

Further, the policy covers hardware, software applications, websites, printers, multimedia, mobile applications, systems, and networks. Whoever comes in this domain, must follow the policy.

Organizations fail to deliver the required expectation, they come at the risk of prosecution under federal law and further, they lose potential customers having disabilities.

‍Follow the shared approach to increase the usability of your web or mobile application.

Always make sure, the product should make sense, independent of the way it is perceived.

Making a product for a normal user base is fine, but you should always keep in mind the people having disabilities. For those who have no or low eye-sight, implement the text to speech feature so that they can also understand your business idea. Similarly, cover the other cases as well.

Ensure that the content is easy to read and understand

Another aspect that comes under web accessibility best practices, content should be properly visible, clear, and relatable. Sometimes the old-age group cannot read the text because of poor visibility or alignment. The font size should be well optimized, and during testing, the testers must keep this point in mind.

Your product should have effortless navigation.

Navigation is something, that gives direction to your audiences, and if it does not execute properly, they will get lost. And it is not at all acceptable. Hence by using the best accessibility testing tools, you can ensure smooth navigation in an application.

Users should have enough time to interact.

Suppose you have developed your website using some time-sensitive elements that fade in or fade out at certain intervals. Likewise, if you have implemented a banner that slides, you need to make sure the content of these elements should be visible to users for the required period of time. If it runs too fast, users get confused, and they leave the platform immediately.

Best accessibility testing tools

To execute appropriate testing, you must use the right tools. We at QAble always encourage testers to select the most reliable accessibility testing tools that further increase the productivity of an application.

So, let’s have a look:

WAVE

• This is a web accessibility evaluation tool and WebAIM has developed it.
• The tool tests the accessibility of content available on the web.
• Testers can get WAVE online, and it is also available as a toolbar in Firefox.
• WAVE performs testing only at the browser rather than the server.

JAWS

• JAWS mean Job Access with Speech, and Freedom Scientific is behind their development.
• The tool is preferred for accessibility testing because it is a powerful screen-reader. The feature helps people having no vision.
• Two leading elements of JAWS are multi-lingual synthesizers Viz. Eloquence and Vocalizer Expressive.
• This app and web accessibility tool is compatible with various browsers like
• Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc. Further, it offers support for widows with its touch-screen feature.
• With the implementation of JAWS, you get faster access to information and save time by Skim Reading.

Dynomapper

• The tool evaluates HTML content and gives the flexibility to generate sitemaps from any URL.
• Dynomapper imports XML files for the generation of sitemap.
• Here, you get a filtering of images, pages, and files along with the content inventory.
• This accessibility testing tool holds an advanced crawler for the placement of links and the following subdomains.
• Further, the tech team can edit and customize the site map through colors.

SortSite

• SortSite comes under the most popular accessibility testing tool for Windows, Mac, OS X users.
• Additionally, the tool verifies the accessibility of a website against accessibility standards following the guidelines of WCAG.
• SortSite works well with Mobile as well as Desktop Browsers.
• The tool enables you to detect HTTP error codes and script errors. Also, it validates errors related to XHTML, CSS and HTML.

EvalAccess 2.0

• With the implementation of EvalAccess 2.0, testers validate the accessibility of the web for WCAG 1.0 and section 508 compliance.
• The University of Basque Country is behind its design and development.
• To access multiple URLs, one needs to take a paid subscription.
• With EvalAccess 2.0, there is no need for installation. And you will get a formatted report at the end.
• Three modes of evaluation are available in EvalAccess 2.0
• Single URL
• Overall Website
• HTML Markup

axe DevTools - Web Accessibility Testing

• axe DevTools is a free browser extension. However being lightweight and fast, it is a powerful web accessibility testing tool. Further Deque has developed the entire concept.
• Also, with axe DevTools, testers get a mind-blowing user experience and its comprehensive range also includes 1 billion having disabilities.
• Mostly QA prefers the tool for accessibility testing because it prevents false-positive results.
• One should follow axe DevTools in order to, enhance the accuracy of the system and for the prevention of tickets. Also, it helps to reduce the risks along with the accessibility lawsuits’ cost.

NVDA Reader

• NVIDIA Corp. is behind the designing and development of NVDA reader that operates through the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) & Tegra Processor segments.
• NVDA is one of the frequently used web accessibility tools that enhances the interactivity of the web platform for the disabled.
• For Windows, NVDA is a free screen reader and one can download the same from the internet.
• Also, NVDA facilitates an excellent add-on that we call Focus Highlight. With the help of this element, developers can track the object having a focus on the screen.

Conclusion:

These are the best practices for accessibility testing. Here we have shared WCAG guidelines along with reliable accessibility testing tools. Also, at QAble, we follow a standard approach to meet the expectation of the client.  

Additionally, we are providing web and mobile app accessibility testing in India & USA for many years. So, by collecting all our experiences, we always share something reliable, result-oriented, and innovative with our readers.

To increase the agility of your product, hire QA testers in India, from QAble exclusively. Here the intent is to deliver quality meeting the client's expectations.

Further, if you have any concerns about your mobile app accessibility testing in India & USA, feel free to get in touch. We are actively available and will solve all your software testing problems at the earliest.